Long lines and extensions of the body are more than a characteristic of good technique; they are one of the most important qualities to express feminine elegance, refinement and grace.  A beautiful extension affects your entire body. If you were not blessed with lean, long lines (which most of us weren’t), don’t worry; there are ways to elongate your body, creating natural extensions that can transform your body’s lines, awareness, and movement.  In this article, I share four helpful tips to help you find length while adding grace and elegance to your deportment and your every–day movement.

Feel how your body makes extensions within itself and in relation to space. While standing or seating, rest your arms on the side of your body and elongate your spine, lengthening your neck from the base of your skull.  Keep your shoulders down and your chest slightly open. Close your eyes and visualize what happens within your body as you make these adjustments.  Then relax and follow these adjustments again.  The more you practice this sequence, the more you will develop your sense of awareness.

Imagine your legs and arms extending and stretching with infinite possibilities. When I was very young, a good teacher of mine once told me to “extend your arms as if they were going to the infinite”.  When I teach this concept in my classes, I tell my students to imagine that your limbs create lines that go beyond your visual, so that the lines created by your movement stay present in your mind even when they are not there; these visualizations have the power to be memorable, as if people could see those lines extending from across a stage, or a room, or a dinner table and they remember you.

Keep your core engaged and your energy flowing during transitions between movements. Think about if you were writing a beautiful story and in the middle of the story you forget to write a couple of sentences.  What happens? The story loses its message.  That metaphor, translated to movement, means that flowing transitions between movements make your story look refined and polished, and the message you are trying to send flows flawlessly from one idea to the next, thus from one movement to the next.

Use oppositional forces to maximize your extensions.

For example, when standing, use the floor as resistance.  Press with your feet towards the floor while projecting your heard towards the ceiling.  Practice this concept in front of the mirror and explore different possibilities on how subtle changes in your posture can affect the extension and position of your spine. 

This is one of the Foundational Pillars of Tangoflex®: Flexibility from Within.  You are not just moving or stepping, you are indeed communicating elegant thoughts, ideas and impressions with your body, and that goes deeper than any step.  When the movement starts with the right ‘intention’ from within, you can make your lines and extension graceful, refined, and elegant.  Give your lines a purpose.  Give your movements a voice.

Once you start moving from within to create lean, long, lines and extensions, you will see that not only will your body become more elegant, but also your perspective and your energy will project grace and refinement.

With love and elegance,